Lots Of Ideas on the Forum: So Crowdfund

[hellouser]

Hi All,

I know this isn't the way it's done, but I have something which I would like to get crowdfunded.
Can @hellouser contact me please - including any other prominent posters on this forum - as I'd like to discuss an idea which I have partially set in motion.
If it's worth a shot I will post something in due course.
Sorry, I don't know how to / can't private msg people it seems.

Let's hear your ideas.

[moleular]

Hi All,

I know this isn't the way it's done, but I have something which I would like to get crowdfunded.
Can @hellouser contact me please - including any other prominent posters on this forum - as I'd like to discuss an idea which I have partially set in motion.
If it's worth a shot I will post something in due course.
Sorry, I don't know how to / can't private msg people it seems.

[Thinning87]

This is not time consuming at all. In fact you can think about the platform as something already done and ready to be put online.

Also, like you, I have repeated several times that the market must choose. Thats why it is important to have an open platform where any (trusted) company makes a project suggestion. Then everybody puts their money where they want... And I must repeat that the pledged money NEVER leaves your bank account until the project is completely funded..

I have been really busy at work and havent even read the forums in a week and half. I think the next step should be to start forming a group of individuals who are willing to step up and be the public faces / spokesperson of this project. We need to tell the companies that "patients" are starting to associate around this initiative... And show them the platform. But probably we could do a crossforum announcement and make a survey on www.wufoo.com with the options we have...

I agree with everything you are saying

[Axel]

One way to do this would be to put several campaigns together, and let the market choose.

ie, see which gets funded....

this would be more time consuming for the developers, but is better than choosing one campaign off of your own personal hunch, and then putting all you time and effort into something just to find out it isn't what people want.

This is not time consuming at all. In fact you can think about the platform as something already done and ready to be put online.

Also, like you, I have repeated several times that the market must choose. Thats why it is important to have an open platform where any (trusted) company makes a project suggestion. Then everybody puts their money where they want... And I must repeat that the pledged money NEVER leaves your bank account until the project is completely funded..

I have been really busy at work and havent even read the forums in a week and half. I think the next step should be to start forming a group of individuals who are willing to step up and be the public faces / spokesperson of this project. We need to tell the companies that "patients" are starting to associate around this initiative... And show them the platform. But probably we could do a crossforum announcement and make a survey on www.wufoo.com with the options we have...

[NeedHairASAP]

One way to do this would be to put several campaigns together, and let the market choose.

ie, see which gets funded....

this would be more time consuming for the developers, but is better than choosing one campaign off of your own personal hunch, and then putting all you time and effort into something just to find out it isn't what people want.

[Californication]

What's going on here, any updates hellouser? There's a fair amount of interest on these forums in this imo and even though some people label it as a 'pipedream' or whatever, there's no reason this can't take off and achieve something even if it isn't totally successful (which of course it can be).

And I don't think I want to back some sort of quasi-altruistic, half-baked crap that sends some sort of message like "everyone is 100% beautiful just the way they are" which everyone agrees with in theory but not in practice.

The idea is to fix the problem by showing that it's
a) one that affects many people men and women (mentally, physically)--> Don't Overdo it here though
b)if affordable, who WOULDN'T choose to keep their hair, even if they don't mind being bald that much
c) we have the technology to do so currently. This is key. We've made so many discoveries, there's no reason this can't be solved if the proper resources are allocated.

And to do it all with humor and lightly while getting the message across that this is a solvable problem that should be addressed. ( for instance, we've flown to the moon, why can't we cure baldness type of thing that fits in with point c.)

I agree that delving into too much pity and "wah stop making fun of me" is a bad way to go about this. It will just invite more scorn especially since in many people's eyes, this is an absolutely trivial, cosmetic condition.

[pocketmerlin]

I'm not really sure if I'm into this whole approach of just making it a public awareness campaign.

I think I'd rather just try to find a way to fix my hair loss than try to change the world's cruel mockery of it.

If me wanting hair was as simple as feeling ashamed about it because people made fun of me for losing it, then yeah, some campaign that successfully got people to stop making fun of me for it would be all that I would need.

But I want hair because I want to be more attractive. No campaign will, or probably even should, get the majority of young women to be wild for young balding men.

And I don't think I want to back some sort of quasi-altruistic, half-baked crap that sends some sort of message like "everyone is 100% beautiful just the way they are" which everyone agrees with in theory but not in practice.

[hellouser]

We'll have to study the history of fat people, and try to ascertain how they got into the "not to be made fun of" category.

I think we may also need to point out some similarities to other conditions that only have very lousy treatments and no cure. This way, we could connect to others that can relate to us. For example, tinnitus sufferers; they have treatments, they all suck and theres no cure.

Thoughts?

[NeedHairASAP]

I have a feeling there WILL be a backlash in response to this. What we need to CAREFULLY do is this:

Create the campaign in a serious but self deprecating manner that is humorous, similar to the comedic style of Rodney Dangerfield. That way, any insults that come our way, will be rendered MOOT as we've already covered them.

And, before the public can even begin to target us with insults and mockery, we need to CALL THEM ALL OUT for doing that before hand, basically having a rebuttal before they can even further lash out against us.

But we all know why they would mock us... I mean, they need to validate their own happiness by insulting someone elses misfortune. Like I said before, they are scum.

We'll have to study the history of fat people, and try to ascertain how they got into the "not to be made fun of" category.

[hellouser]

I like the campaign idea. What would be the goal though?


1. fund some studies that would get hair transplants etc. covered by insurance. (link hairloss to depression, etc?)

2. general awareness... like how milk producers all put money into a pool for the "got milk" campaign--- not sure what message we could send or, in actuality, how well it would be received by non baldies and the general popu... would probably end up a joke on youtube.

I have a feeling there WILL be a backlash in response to this. What we need to CAREFULLY do is this:

Create the campaign in a serious but self deprecating manner that is humorous, similar to the comedic style of Rodney Dangerfield. That way, any insults that come our way, will be rendered MOOT as we've already covered them.

And, before the public can even begin to target us with insults and mockery, we need to CALL THEM ALL OUT for doing that before hand, basically having a rebuttal before they can even further lash out against us.

But we all know why they would mock us... I mean, they need to validate their own happiness by insulting someone elses misfortune. Like I said before, they are scum.

[NeedHairASAP]

Its one thing to fund a cause/movement and a another totally different thing to fund a company in phase 2. With the latter, they can simply say awwww , you guys on BBT are so sweet and nice, thanks a lot for the money , we really appreciate it and we'll work night and day to find a cure and your money won't go to waste. Next month file bankruptcy , change there number and leave you no where closer to a cure. Best thing about it, you wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it.

I like the campaign idea. What would be the goal though?


1. fund some studies that would get hair transplants etc. covered by insurance. (link hairloss to depression, etc?)

2. general awareness... like how milk producers all put money into a pool for the "got milk" campaign--- not sure what message we could send or, in actuality, how well it would be received by non baldies and the general popu... would probably end up a joke on youtube.

3. ?

[Supersixx]

Its one thing to fund a cause/movement and a another totally different thing to fund a company in phase 2. With the latter, they can simply say awwww , you guys on BBT are so sweet and nice, thanks a lot for the money , we really appreciate it and we'll work night and day to find a cure and your money won't go to waste. Next month file bankruptcy , change there number and leave you no where closer to a cure. Best thing about it, you wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it.

[Supersixx]

1) Because they would be closer to market than starting a whole new venture from scratch.
2) They already have the business model in place.
3) They already have 2 successful clinical trials and a patent victory over a multinational corporation.
4) Because the owner of the company has stated herself that additional funds via a kickstarter would speed up the process of bringing the product to the market.
5) It's common sense to fund the strongest player in the game.

So for reasons 1-5 is why we should start up a crowdfunding cause for Histogen? As if Histogen couldn't do this on there own? Maybe we can raise more money than J&J , Merk, and Aderans because us guys on these forums are just that much in the know and smarter than those guys? If Histogen had something, they wouldn't need to stoop this low. They would've been bought out yesterday.

Also... your assumption that "money is never a problem" is laughable, Gail Naughton was running Histogen off her credit cards in 2009, so to assume that these small bio-tech start-ups have a limitless access to money is the most idiotic assumption anyone could make.

Money IS never a problem to a promising venture. Again, it seems that Histogens investors are not satisfied. And they know better than me, you and anybody else on this forum.

It's actually quite DANGEROUS to make that assumption because you're effectively convincing people NOT to help Histogen by perpetuating a lie about their supposed access to finance

.

Whats "DANGEROUS" about what i said? lol. How am i "effectively" convincing people not to help? Perpetuating a lie? Heres a little secret. Everyone on this forum has access to investors or financing. Its up to the investor/financier if its worth investing. Whats "dangerous" is all these unproven DIY concoctions thats floating around this forum. God forbid a forum member have a bad reaction or worse. Again, as if we're smarter than the guys in lab coats..

Regarding your final statement@ "trust me" < lol - there are also "very rich" people who would like a cancer cure, does that mean bio-tech companies that are working on cancer treatments have an endless supply of cash?

Though they may not have an endless supply of cash, believe it or not, biotech companies receive government grants, generous charitable donations, tax breaks and they sell stock among other things. Keyword, STOCK. How much is Histogen stock worth again?

Then again, lets crowdfund solyndra ,my bad i mean Histogen, lol, (don't even sound right).

[Axel]

UK_ nailed it...

The platform should let any companies to showcase their projects and engage directly with the community (final clients), so they get critical feedback and a market testbed for their product. The finality is to bring Open Innovation to the table. It has to be a collaborative initiative and ALL the players are invited.

I have told hellouser that in order to maximize pledges and get as much money as we can, we should push and encourage companies about rewarding the pledgers with *the treatment*, including it in the product tier rewards... I.e:

Pledge 20 and get a sticker.
Pledge 50 and get a t-shirt
Pledge 100 and get a t-shirt + dermaroller
Pledge 250 and get all the above
Pledge 500 and get xyz
Pledge 1000 and get treatment for 1 year.
Pledge 2500 and get treatment for 3 years
Pledge 5000 and get the complete treatment. (Permanent results)
Pledge 10000, bronze Sponsor
Pledge 25000, gold Sponsor
Pledge 50000, platinum Sponsor

Yes, we must fund the companies that are closer to A TREATMENT, this could get megatons of cash for the companies and will bring us what we ALL want. And the tiers should include options for sponsorship... You never know who could drop you a nice help in exchange of good publicity.

Yeah, I too favor supporting an existing company even if its not the total cure because 1) actually getting something to market is huge 2) it, if successful, encourages competition.

Getting a professional with experience with the legislation on crowdfunding is a great start. Hellouser, have you and axel ironed out any details yet or come up with a game plan, lets try to get this moving as there seems to be at least 5-10 people in this thread willing to help in whatever way they can.

Any help in any field is welcomed.

I would prefer to pick european ground for the legality tho. Launching an UK foundation (CIC) should be a no brainer, and use it to give to the project the consistency it requires should be equally easy. Yes, we'll need to fill papers, but thats just normal bureaucracy. I have launched way more complicated online businesses before...

Anyways, the next step is writing down all this stuff in a more schematic and ordered way. We are going to work in a shared google doc, and if required we will setup a dedicated wiki.

More news to come soon

[NeedHairASAP]

Is Histogen still a viable treatment compared with Replicel, Follica etc? I thought their recent trial results disappointed? If it still looks decent/compoundable I'd be happy to donate to a kickstarter. I think it would get a lot of interest - title it 'A cure for balding' and you'll get millions.

Histogen isn't a "seed-stage" startup-- for which funding is VERY hard to get. They are pretty deep into the game... the fact they are garnering less and less investment as they get farther and farther into trials is worrisome-- to say the least.


One question would be: if donations would help, how much? A ballpark of what the timeline is now and would it could be before we fork over money blindly.

I mean, if their cure is that great, why isn't a veteran bio-investor giving them the gap-funding they need?

Garnering seedstage investment is tough no matter what. But if you have anything worth your salt that's in a 2nd stage trial, you'd have gap funding-- histogen doesn't.


If we were to run our own trials on some of the very promising drugs, we need to put together a team of real people with experience. There is no reason, with the funding, you can't pay (cash+stock) a legit team of persons to do this.